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Lillian Smith: The Champion California Huntress

Portrait of Lillian Smith

Buffalo Bill Cody’s Wild West Show was a staple of Old West entertainment during the 1800s and featured many of the era’s famous sharpshooters and pioneers, such as Annie Oakley, James “Wild Bill” Hickok, and Calamity Jane herself. However, the youngest ever to join Buffalo Bill’s troupe of performers was a brassy California teen by the name of Lillian Smith… who would then become Annie Oakley’s strongest female rival.

Born Lillian Frances Smith in Colville California, she was the quintessential tomboy at age 7 (when, growing bored with playing with dolls, she asked her father for a rifle to play with instead). By age 10, she was nearly unbeatable and her father bet $5000.00 to anyone that could surpass little Lillian’s shooting. Buffalo Bill was touring in California at this time, and discovered the girl prodigy, inviting her along to be a part of his troupe at the mere age of 15 and naming her “The Champion California Huntress.”

 

A young Lillian with a Stevens Tip-Up Rifle

Women of the Wild West

12 Renowned Women of the Wild West

 

Perhaps no other time in America’s history is as steeped in myth, legend, and adventure as the pioneering age of the “Wild West.” Outlaws, lawmen, cowboys, American Indians, miners, ranchers, and more than a few “ladies of ill repute” emerged in this era, from 1865 to 190­0.

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Any female settler in the West was a heroine in her own right, but listed here are a few of the more famous (and infamous) women of this intriguing period.

Read Original article from howstuffworks.com.